Defense
 After 1945, Albania has undergone an extensive process of
change. The country was a member of the 1955 Warsaw Pact but
left the same in 1968 to approach China. From 1976, ie.
After Mao Zedong's death, the cooperation diminished to
completely cease in 1978. Albania was, until 1989, largely
isolated in the face of major security policy changes. A
number of democratic elections, supported mainly by
neighboring countries, have been conducted and the situation
has stabilized since 1997. Periodically, however, almost
civil war-like conditions have prevailed.
During 1998-99, Albania became a reception area for
refugees from Kosovo and most recently a march and base area
for NATO allies in UN sanctions against Yugoslavia. The
defense was disorganized and is 2007-10 under
reconstruction. It is always based on selective military
duty with an initial service of 12 months and (2006)
comprises 11,000 men distributed on 6,000 men ground combat
forces, a rapid-fire brigade, 1,100 men naval forces, 13
smaller fighter ships and 1,400 man combat forces without
combat aircraft but with seven modern reconnaissance
helicopters. The material is outdated and of Chinese and
Soviet origin.
Defense costs rose from 5.3% to 6.7% of GDP in 1985-96,
having decreased to 1.5% of GDP in 2006. Albania
participates in UN peacekeeping operations in Bosnia and
Herzegovina (EUFOR), in Afghanistan (ISAF), in Iraq (MNF)
and others. NATO has a management team of 155 men Italian
troops stationed in Albania. To see related acronyms about this country, please check ABBREVIATIONFINDER where you can see that ALB stands for Albania.
1948-60
The pro-Yugoslav wing of the AKP was quickly removed.
Albania took an active part in the grotesque anti-Yugoslav
campaign launched by the Komin countries. But Albania, as
before, depended on outside help. Immediately after the
breach, the USSR was willing to provide Albania with
assistance in compensation for the termination of economic
cooperation with Yugoslavia. Already in 1949, loans and
other assistance from the USSR and the other Komin countries
accounted for 38% of Albanian state revenue. Thousands of
Soviet advisers flocked to the country. Soviet aid greatly
contributed to increased economic growth in the early
1950's. In the period 1951-55, industrial production
increased 3 fold. In 1949, Albania became a member of
COMECON, and in 1955 helped create the Warsaw Pact. Until
the late 1950's, the USSR dominated Albania in the same way
as the other countries of the Warsaw Pact.
The first political contradictions between Albania and
the USSR emerged after Khrushchev approximation to
Yugoslavia in 1955, and after the Soviet Communist Party's
20th Congress the following year, when the Stalinisation
gained momentum in the USSR and the other popular
democracies. Albania was not very willing to normalize
relations with Yugoslavia. The Albanian leaders were in no
way prepared to rehabilitate the victims of the terror after
the break-up with Yugoslavia, as Khrushchev demanded, and to
take part in the Afalinisation. But it was at the economic
level that the contradictions two years later were further
sharpened. In COMECON's long-term plan for integrating the
Eastern European economies, Albania had been assigned the
role of agricultural and commodity producing country.
Albania was pressured to increase investment in agriculture
at the expense of industry, which was in direct opposition
to APA's industrialization program.China had common views
about the criticism of Soviet politics. At that time, China
was also interested in weakening Soviet influence in Eastern
Europe and had already provided Albania with financial
assistance since 1954. |
